Kelly Kenzik Answers: Do Racial Survival Disparities Persist Long-Term?

Kelly Kenzik, MS, PhD, epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, discusses her findings regarding long-term mortality disparities among African American and white women with breast cancer.

Previous literature mentions that more black women die of breast cancer than white women in the immediate stage after diagnosis, but Kenzik wanted to see if the difference was sustained 5 to 7 years post-diagnosis. She found that the disparity does persist, but not for all causes of death. When she controlled for pre-cancer conditions, like cardiovascular disease, or secondary cancers, the inequality disappears. However, more African American women were dying from the primary cancer than Caucasian women.